Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Demonwolf 10-11-03, 02:56 AM	please give me reviews on this character... don't need to read all of it, just the first paragraph, and whatever other sections u find interesting... u may wanna take a look at appearance, history and personality... thanks a lot. Arrusk Windwarder (Half orc aristocrat2/ftr5/duelist1) Lawful good Str 18 Dex 18 Con 17 Wis 12 Int 15 Cha 12 Sir Arrusk Windwarder is a well-known and well-loved nobleman, a skilled weapons-master and duelist, a charismatic diplomat, a politician and the son of a wealthy merchant woman. He is very little like the typical half-orc, and is known for his intelligence, charisma, sophistication, poise and sociable demeanor. He conducts himself with a fiery passion and is known as an aggressive and relentless negotiator and diplomat. He is often the first to defend a good cause. Arrusk is a strong advocate of the equal rights of good-aligned orcish citizens of Silverymoon and it's allies, and is a founding member of the organization of good aligned orcs and half-orcs known as the Bloodkin, and as such he is quite proud of his orcish first name. He is a rare combination of politician and adventurer, and he often takes up arms to fight alongside the Knights of Silver as a vigilante, tactician, elite soldier and/or general. To his constant dismay, he often has to prove his credibility as a duelist and politician to those who haven't met him in the past. Background: Arrusk is the son of a wealthy ex-rogue merchant woman and an orcish prisoner whose intelligence and goodness, though hard to recognize due to his barbaric upbringing, made her fall in love with him. His father was killed in the attempt to escape, but his mother found freedom. Arrusk was born and raised in the city of Silverymoon and grew up with his mother, who settled down and gave up the life of the rogue and learned the arts of tailoring and clothweaving instead, and with his uncle, a blacksmith, who helped greatly in supporting them both. In his youth, Arrusk trained passionately with the weapons his uncle forged, teaching himself, and though he trained in all weapons, he fell deeply in love with the halberd. Though his training was mostly driven by love of combat arts, he also practiced so he could one day enter the Tournament of Silver Steel that would begin at the time of the city's Festival of the Moon. Upon his fifteenth birthday, Arrusk entered the tournament in hopes of winning the first prize of a thousand gold (a king's ransom to a peasant) with a crude, massive axe-like halberd and heavy plate armor on his chest, he entered the tournament and did better than he expected, defeating far more seasoned warriors than himself. He managed to fight long and hard enough to reach the finals, and when he did, he faced off against a skilled veteran elven swordsman who wielded nothing more than a pair of longswords and a suit of light elven chainmail. They fought for the better part of an hour, clashing blades, and though Arrusk defeated his opponent in the end, the crowd did not cheer for what they saw as an unfair victory. His elven opponent, enraged at both being defeated in public and being beaten by one of orcish blood, accused Arrusk of winning because of his brawny build and iron armor, lacking the skill of a true warrior. Though Arrusk fought with equal skill, maneuvering with amazing agility for one in full plate and swinging his massive blade quickly enough to parry two swords, the crowd cheered when the referees gave the trophy to the elf. Enraged and insulted, Arrusk challenged his opponent to a rematch that would be set in three years. "I'll make lots and lots of gold by then, and be a lord," he bellowed, "and i'll have all the book smarts you've got and more, and i'll fight without a single chain on me chest and beat you! you'll see!" The elf scoffed at his claims, until the orc bellowed again, "run like a coward then, gray elf!" Though the crowd thought the word 'gray' was spoken to refer to the elf's race, it was said with the subtle inflection that turned it into the elvish word for waste, a grievous insult that brought a deadly reaction from the elf. The elf began to draw his swords, but sheathed them again while the tips were still in the scabbards, and agreed to meet Arrusk again in three years, with all intention of killing him. Arrusk spent his second-prize money of five hundred gold to learn to read and write, and borrowed books about economics, combat, tailoring and smithing from the city's finest libraries. With time, Arrusk, his mother and his uncle had built ties to merchants across the silver marches and sword coast and established a trade company, selling and bartering the finest of blades, armors, clothing, rugs, trinkets, decorative pieces, shawls and the like. He became educated and sophisticated, as refined as any of Silverymoon's aristocracy and nobility, and trained under the finest of weapons-masters, becoming one of the finest duelists the city had seen. He replaced his massive, heavy-iron halberd with a slender, graceful expertly-crafted one with a crescent-moon blade, and he replaced his heavy plate armor with a fine leather vest embroidered with thin links of chain. The elven swordsman barely recognized Arrusk- his peasant accent had turned to a noble one, his hair, clothing and skin were no longer soiled with sweat and grease from the forge, his teeth and fangs were no longer rotted or filthy and his manner was refined as he stepped into the ring. None could believe that the man who walked into the arena was the half-orc peasant who had fought three years ago. Arrusk fought and won, but soon after apologized for his insult, explaining his plight to the embarassed elf. He used the money he earned as the tournament's first place prize and then some to ease the workloads of the peasantry and cheapen the price of materials for the tradesfolk, and thus began to gain popularity among the public. He went into politics, and with time, he earned a voice in the council of the Marches. As years passed, he soon became a member and founder of a loosely formed neutral-good organization of good and neutral half-orcs and orcs dedicated to creating equal rights for orcish citizens of the Silver Marches, High Forest and Sword Coast. This organization, known as the Bloodkin, is strongly allied with the Knights of Silver, the Temple of Mystra, the Harpers, the Silver Crows and the Circle of Hand and Leaf, mostly for strong allies, but also to maintain contact and alliance with other races so as to prevent prejudiced 'orc power' elitist mentalities. Group role: Arrusk has very little role beyond that of a fighter, albeit a very versatile one, able to switch between the roles of tank, damage dealer, tripper and flyswatter thanks to his quick draw, expertise, power attack and similar feats. Appearance: Arrusk is tall, a little more than six and a half feet. He has thick, tone muscles and appears slender and graceful, though only because of his great height. He has well-groomed, thick, black hair and a handsome, young face that only looks orcish because of his nose, fangs and slightly pointed ears. He wears elegant clothing that is noble yet simple, and his ensemble usually includes a black leather vest intricately embroidered with white string. Personality: Arrusk is usually friendly and cheerful with a witty sense of humor and has a typically gentle demeanor, but no matter how relaxed and friendly he is, most can't help but see the fiery passion hidden within his heart. Violent orcish tendencies haunt him occasionally, but instead of denying them, he uses them to fuel his passion in combat. He is usually very comfortable in a position of leadership, and when he sets his eyes on a goal, he is relentless in trying to achieve it. He has a strong sense of loyalty to friends, family and people. Ironically, all the traits that make orcs chaotic evil- passion, strength, ambition, aggression, love of simple pleasures, persistence, stubbornness, vengefulness, focus on the here and now and a down-to-earth attitude- are all the traits that make Arrusk lawful good. More of a politician than a paladin, he is down to earth and prefers to fight to defend people rather than ideals and morals. Alignment and beliefs: Arrusk is lawful good, because of his unbending loyalty toward his friends, his family and to his people. He follows Selune, but is not very religous and in fact is quite distrustful of most religions, but he idolizes the morals and ideals of his faith deeply and completely. Likewise, he is loyal to Silverymoon and the nation of the Silver Marches, but his patriotism is practical, as he simply wants to help people, and would abandon the Knights of Silver in a heartbeat should they ever oppose him or turn to evil. He dislikes noblemen who forget honor and goodness for the 'betterment' of their lands or nation, since he believes that no matter how prosperous a civilization's military, economy or technology, it will ultimately be no better than the individuals within it. In addition, he believes that although justice is important, it is more important to make the world better for everyone rather than spend time trying to decide who deserves what. Equipment: Arrusk's weapon of choice is and has always been the halberd, at first because it was the weapon he most easily adapted to, but now mainly because it makes the best use of both his great strength and his skillful grace. His halberd is made of adamantine with a five-and-a-half foot long and a one-and-one-quarter inch staff. The spear-head of the halberd is carved to look like a smaller version of a longsword. forged onto that small longsword is a small longknife that appears to be resting againts it at a ninety degree angle, forming a cross. The handle of the longknife is curved to form a hook used for trip attacks, and at the tip of the knife is a halberd blade shaped like a crescent moon to symbolize both Arrusk's city and his goddess. Arrusk wears no significant armor to speak of, but his embroidered leather vest is enchanted- as a move action, he can make the white strings of the embroidery turn into strings of thick, shining steel chains. (functions as +1 masterwork studded leather armor. Arrusk maintains the vest's deflection AC even while the chains are deactivated.) As ranged weapons, Arrusk uses a set of six small throwing axes strapped to his thigh. Relations: Arrusk is particularly close to Tereis who he considers a brother because of the many thoughts, ideas, experiences and pains they've shared. However, even though Arrusk understands that the Uthgardt hatred for orcs is justified, it troubles both him and Tereis that Tereis’ people may never accept him as a true ally or friend. He feels a kinship with Talon because of the way they share the pain of having to fight and overcome temptations and personal demons brought to them by their pasts and their heritage. Junas intrigues him- almost all the men of great intelligence that Arrusk has ever met were either agnostics or fanatics, but since Junas, even as a cleric, is neither, Arrusk suspects that Junas may know something about faith and religion that he doesn’t.
Krondar, Palemaster of Cuthbert 10-12-03, 11:46 PM	Very interesting, an excellent job of breaking out of the stereotyped big, dumb, half-orc barbarian which, unfortunately has been played up ad nauseum. I commend you on a character well designed. I look forward to hearing of other characters which have spawned from the depths of your imagination. Truly well done!
Demonwolf 10-13-03, 03:20 PM	if you like that and actually had the patience to read all that, could you please review this?Talon Ravenwright (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113257) oh and is there any reason nobody seems to review my characters other than the fact that they're two thousand miles long, rounding down
Leap 10-13-03, 03:24 PM	Nope, its the 2000 mile thing :D